A fascinating discussion on the future of North Africa from the World Economic Forum in Davros

Video Transcript Reproduced Below: https://youtu.be/zlfe9-J-7UA

Good morning. Welcome and thank you very much for being here with us today this early. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Nadine Hani. I present the business news on Al Arabiya News Channel. I will be your moderator for this session. The title of this panel for this morning is, From Revolution to Evolution: Governance in North Africa. I would like to note that this panel will be held in Arabic. So we will be having simultaneous translation. Kindly make sure that you have your headsets with you if you need to listen to the translation. I also would like to point out that this session is streaming, is broadcasted on the internet and might be broadcasted as well later on TV.

I now move to Arabic. I would like to mention that a year ago I was here in Davos and everyone was watching screens on TV or following the news on the internet in order to see what was happening in the Arab world. A year after these historic events, the general climate is less optimistic than it was at the beginning of the revolution. Hurdles were bigger than expected and the process of political transformation was not easy at all times. At the economic level, the situation is more difficult because these Arab revolutions were accompanied with the European crisis, and of course this has led to economic problems especially for countries in North Africa. According the studies, the cost of the Arab Spring is $56 billion. The last GDP value in the country is affected by revolutions. As to the death toll, it is of course more dramatic. But this is not only a bad situation. As we have heard, there was positive change.

There were elections held in various countries and hence the transformation process. In Tunisia for example, maybe it was the easiest. And in Morocco they carried out reforms before any revolutions. Now, North African countries are witnessing deep social and economic transformation. In order to discuss all of these issues, I am hosting with me Mr. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, presidential candidate in Egypt. He is the Secretary-General of the Arab Medical Union from Egypt. His Excellency, Prime Minister of Tunisia, Mr. Hammadi Jebali, whom we have just listened to. Mr. Abdelilah Benkirane, Chief of Government of Morocco. And Mr. Amre Moussa, presidential candidate in Egypt and Secretary-General of the League of Arab States from 2001 to 2011.

Thank you all for being our guests today. I would like to start with you, Your Excellency, regarding Morocco because we heard today about the Tunisian experience. But in Morocco the situation was different. You anticipated any uprising and reforms were carried out, but to what extent this change is real and can you tell us about your experience? And there is separation, a separation between powers, between you as the Prime Minister, and His Majesty, the King. In the name of God most gracious, most merciful. Mrs. Hani, please allow me before telling you about the Moroccan experience to tell you about my opinion on what happened in our countries.

We all know that our region was governed based on logic in two folds if I might say. First, there was the development dream with Abdel Nasser, Bolkiah and others through a tight grip. So there was a tight grip, but at the same time, there was the dream of development. But governance in the last 25 years lost the dream of development and only the tight grip remained, this tight grip in power and this tight grip as to wealth.

So irrespective of good intentions or bad intentions, the results were as witnessed. So these people in power were seeking wealth Everywhere, so the situation was very difficult for our peoples. They could not enjoy freedom and they could not earn a decent living. At the same time, there was an elite that emerged and that enjoyed a lot of wealth.

So the explosion was inevitable. This is how this Arab Spring was born. People were expecting it but not in the way it unfolded. Yes, it’s true. This was a very big surprise. Yes, it is the format that was surprising. Actually, in Morocco, I can tell you very frankly that what has happened in Arab countries, we were living in a moderate way. Reforms had started 20 years ago. His Majesty, King Hassan II, was aware of changes that were happening. He initiated reconciliation with the left wing and he established a dialogue with the Islamists. Mr. Jebali was for 15 years in prison, but in our country, it was maybe more limited regarding prison time for some Islamists. So there were some violations, but this was limited. Please allow me to ask you a question. When you were on the other side, could you aspire to what you have achieved now? Yes, what I am telling you is the reality when I was on the other side.

I do not change my position with the change of my place now. So this movement in the Arab world has arrived in Morocco as warm as necessary for change but not sufficiently to burn what was in place if I might say. So it was warm enough but it did not burn. So there were a lot of tensions and one has to admit that we cannot go be with the leaders or against them. We just have to see their positions. Yes, but if we have to describe the current situation — Sorry, don’t interrupt me says the speaker. So His Majesty, the King, after the 20th of February, was very aware of what is happening and paid great attention to the change and the mood. So the tensions were there and corruption was there. So the King tabled a proposal in March in order to change this logic of the state tightening its grip to wealth and power. He paved the way for a new constitution for elections and a government that would have real executive powers. The government until today was kind of a secretariat for the king, but now the situation has changed.

A big change has occurred, but it is an acceptable change. And I became only yesterday a member of parliament. So if you can ask me what has changed in Morocco, I cannot give you a lot of details. But we can see the change occurring and people in Morocco have high hopes that the necessary transformation will take place, and this will not be in confrontation with the King because our kingdom dates back to 12 centuries.

Yes, I will get back to you, Your Excellency. Please don’t call me Your Excellency. Yes, this is what we say in Lebanon, says the anchor. Let’s move to the Egyptian matters. In Egypt, maybe it was the most impressive phenomenon, but as we have seen, there were many hurdles. Today, if we would like to look at the future, do you think that the transfer of power will occur as smoothly from the military rulers to a civil rule? In the name of God most gracious, most merciful. The Egyptian revolution and the martyrs that fell were a source of inspiration for the whole world. However, priority goes to our dear brethren in Tunisia. However, it goes without saying that the catalyst and motivator to uprise against the corrupt leaderships and regimes, Germanistic ones, which destroyed the future of many of the new generation, as well as dissipated all hope in the youth of these nations.

Sell, these regimes in fact were backed by Western regimes in general. So this requires me to call on all Western regimes at this august forum, to call on them, in fact to seize backing these germinating regimes in the Third World. In fact, morally, they are required to apologize for the crimes they committed against the peoples of the Third World when they backed these former regimes against their people. As for the transition in Egypt, after the millions of the Egyptian people which stood up against the regimes and which they further reaffirmed the day before yesterday on the 25th of January, as you may well know, the Egyptian people from all walks of life rose and stood up once again that it would not turn back on its claims for a decent living, dignity and humanity.

We insist and we are determined. I will not accept from any power, internally or externally, to turn us back. After the Egyptian people complete the parliamentary elections, 70% so far of the Egyptian people have taken part in these parliamentary elections and which very clearly expressed their choices. So now the Egyptian people is determined to complete the presidential elections in time. So after having elected our second chamber, once the two chambers of parliament and once we have the two-chamber parliament, as well as a constitution, a consensual constitution which reflects all walks of life of the Egyptian people, the Egyptian people will not turn its back and will not allow any return to the previous regime. Our Egyptian Army is a professional and nationalistic army. We in Egypt consider it one of the components of Egyptian civilization. The Egyptian Army in any single day never shot anyone of the people.

However, should I succeed in the elections and become President of Egypt, I will not dissipate the blood of any Egyptian person. I may in fact overlook my own rights. I was imprisoned in the age of Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, and I forgive all what’s committed against me, all the harm that befell me. However, I shall not forgive any harm or injury that was inflicted against the members of the Egyptian people. This is my duty should I succeed in the presidential election. If not, I shall carry on in my struggle for justice and freedom.

Mr. Amre Moussa, today, talk is about the military council. Mr. Abdel Fotouh seems to be in fact optimistic about the elections. Do you believe that this transition will take place? Because certain fractions of the Egyptian people in fact did not believe this. In fact, the man in the street did not believe in it. I would like first and foremost, says Mr. Amre Moussa, to start with what was said by His Excellency, the head the of the Moroccan government. I would like you to draw your attention to an important aspect. The role of the Arab Maghreb is seminal. It is going to play a major role in the future of the Arab region, not only in the Mashriq but the Arab Maghreb. The Arab Spring started in Tunisia and we have now an independent experience in Morocco. So we must follow very carefully the developments taking place in the countries of the Arab Maghreb. This is the first point. My second point deals, of course, with Egypt. In Egypt, we had agreed to a time framework for a transitional period, and this is part of the social and political piece in Egypt.

It is very difficult, therefore, for us to in fact exceed this framework. Elections mid-June and what is accepted and expected is that the head of state will be in office as of the first of July. This is a very important point. However, the ongoing conversation about what has taken place and what will take place will remain important for us to determine exactly what happened, what were the destructions that took place in Egypt, and how to avoid their repetition in the future.

What is even more important for us is to look to the future, to look into reconstruction. This reconstruction requires cooperation. First of all, stability, stability in Egypt and cooperation from within the Arab countries and also from the rest of the world. be they the financial institutions or the other regional groupings with the economic ability. We have before us a very long massive agenda to be completed. We have to tackle education, health, housing, unemployment, poverty. What was stated by His Excellency, the Prime Minister of Tunisia or head of Tunisia is important. The number of unemployed, of university graduates is important. However, if we carry on talking in generalities and clashing with other entities in the world, this, in my opinion, will in fact just simply be a waste of time. A waste of time for us which will prevent us from reconstruction and bringing about development. Development requires us to combat corruption. We have to fight poverty on the one hand and corruption on the other, as well as all those excesses and exaggeration in description of our relations with other countries.

It goes without saying that we have in fact overcome the colonialist era, and has now become countries that are seeking development. This development requires a different form of government and a firm desire to put an end to the past and build the future. Mr. Moussa, I shall ask you at a later point what is your view of Egypt’s future? However, I would like to turn to you, Mr. Jebali. We heard in your statement earlier a description of the general outline of the expectations of your government. However, in Tunisia you are also today currently redrafting your constitution. Now, I would like to know what are the principles that you will be upholding in your constitution? Because there’s a general fear when elections take place and certain parties win the election and then of the majority in a parliament to draft a new constitution. Does this mean that the constitution will allow for the peaceful transition of power, transitional government? Is this how the constitution will be drafted? Will it be through consensus with the different parties? Thank you, Nadine.

First of all, the constitution will not be a constitution of the parliamentary majority. How? It shall be a consensual participatory constitution with all segments of society, parties, organizations, associations, unions. You may be assured that there are many proposals regarding the new constitution from intellectuals, academics, trade unions and political parties. So the constitutional council does not have a majority that has agreed to the terms of a given constitution. It is an agreement on a coalition. However, the constitution will be the object of an exchange of views to draft a constitution. There’s a consensus in Tunisia that this constitution must respond to the expectations of all segments of Tunisian society, i.e. it must defend human rights, public freedoms, women’s rights. This is a great achievement for the Tunisian people. All the segments of Tunisian society agree to this basis and have agreed to uphold them. This constitution will be one seeking to establish a civil society, a civilian state that takes into account human rights and defense, economic freedoms and respects religious freedom, religious worship and faith.

A constitution that provides for the peaceful transition of power and one that will prevent us from falling back into dictatorship. If there’s one thing we have agreed to in Tunisia, and a large majority has agreed to, it is the form of this constitution as to whether we are going to be a constitution, a parliamentary or a presidential system, this is a point of form rather than principle. All Tunisians refuse to turn back to the past, and this constitution will be our security against this. The Tunisian people and the history will not accept, I believe, even the international community will not accept for us to turn back.

And though the European and international authorities have supported Ben Ali in the past, they have now learned their lesson. And now, they will no longer accept to deal with any dictatorial regimes. I believe that there has been a very positive outlook towards the Tunisian experience because such an experience in development is in the interest of all. It is an excellent model for peaceful transition and change as compared to the violent change that has taken place in other parts of the world. This is in the interest of Tunisia, the Arab’s underworld. Mr. Benkirane, regarding this question of the constitution, I said earlier that we would ask you what are your ambitions? The situation today is much better than what it was in the past. What are you looking forward to? Are you also looking forward to further constitutional amendments, or are you calling for these amendments? What are the reforms you are looking forward to in Morocco? At the present juncture, we are not calling for reforms.

We are calling for the implementation of reforms. We in the government, we are the ones who are governing. Are you seeking for a change or an amendment of the constitution? We amended the constitution on the first of July. This constitution should be implemented in practice, and we should fulfill it to its full extent. The constitution now allows a great deal of liberties and freedoms. The head of government is now appointed. He appoints the heads of the government institutions. Some of the most strategic ones are still being appointed by the king. However, many powers and authorities have changed. The judiciary is now independent. Please listen to what I have to say. The main problem in our countries is that of authority and power. Is the authority as the power there to serve the government, or is it there in fact to implement policies to favor the elite and certain governments and international regimes? Let’s not turn around the subject. But in fact we are seeing in the government the same faces as in the past. The faces can stay. Does the government enjoy sufficient scope and leeway to implement its policies? I deal with ministers who are ministers operating and working with me.

If there’s any problem, we sit and discuss subjects openly. However, we must nevertheless examine and consider our genuine abilities to bring about reform and implement reform. The Moroccans have implemented a reform that suits them. The Moroccans wish to retain their royal regime. Moroccan young people for weeks and months for a whole year, they never called for the overthrow of the king or royalty. They were against corruption and Germany, and we oppose Germany and corruption. And we call for stability under the current regime. Our regime, our royal regime has understood that we have to change. And the Moroccans also realized they cannot sweep away everything, but they have to take into account the current situation. On the basis of this experience, we believe that.

Yesterday in parliament we in fact received a vote of confidence, and the opposition is also hoping and supporting this transition and success for this transition. Moroccan society on the basis of the current vote of confidence which amass about 80%, these are statistics that are independent of the government. These are statistics I was informed of through the press. So I believe on the basis of these percentages. We can bring about a reform and prove the situation gradually to serve the government and our people and to serve the poor and the needy. In Morocco, we are not like Egypt. We do not have wages of $15. We have a working class that was able to defend itself and to fulfill its rights. However, there’s a large segment of society, 30-40% of society who are completely powerless. So therefore, my question is what are your plans to tackle this problem? Now, to curtain back to the question of the constitution, Mr.

Abdel Moneim, I have a question to you that feels odd the majority will dictate a constitution. There is no trend in Egypt to draft the constitution which would reflect a certain trend or current. All the political powers in Egypt, as well as Egyptian people have expressed this in their celebration of the first anniversary of the general revolution. They have all stated that the constitution will in fact reflect all the trends and currents in the country, as well as those values that are believed in by the political powers and the Egyptian people. Egypt is currently not governed by a party or any given power. The Egyptian people are the ones who are governing and leading Egypt.

The Egyptian people is a nation that has a sense of humor. And we say in Egypt that though we have not elected a president yet, the Egyptian people is already calling for the fall of the next president should he betray the interest and the goals of the Egyptian people. I am fully confident that as long as the people is governing its country through its institutions, be it a parliamentary or a presidential regime, I am confident that they will draft a constitution that respects the interests and ambitions of the Egyptian people and will seek to reconcile itself with all the peoples of the world without any restriction except that regarding the interest of its own people.

I am one of those who believe that this Davos forum is a humanitarian one, and I wish for it to continue as a means of communication between peoples to bring about international peace and stability, as well as continuity, says the speaker in English, so that we in fact may build a humanitarian society. We, the Egyptian people, a nation whose civilization goes back to 7,000 years has lived a great humanitarian experience. It was undermined by a certain regime. However, we are a nation which respects communication and dialogue. We are seeking to draft a constitution for a modern democratic nation based on the values of the Egyptian people with all its faiths and segments. We seek to draft a constitution based on the rights of citizens so that all citizens may enjoy equal rights and duties without any distinction due to sex, faith, religion, or political party.

This is not a constitution that will take into account any trend or current. We do have Fundamentalist Islamists trend. You have heard about it of course, the Salafist trend. However I welcome its interaction in society today and engagement with society today because its very presence will lead to a greater deal or pragmatism on their part and this will help us to bring about a union of all these currents so they will all join our historic march. So this will add value to Egypt and it must be maintained and upheld. This should not lead to any segmentation or fragmentation. We have one condition on this constitution and that is that no party may resort to violence. All matters may be solved by dialogue and discussion and agreement on the political mechanism and instruments to overcome our problems.

We seek to dialogue to cooperate in this field. You are also involved with this matter. The revolution in Egypt started for several reasons, not only due to political problems but it’s also due to existential problems. Because only a minor fragment of the percentage of society was enjoying the wealth in the country. You are a Presidential candidate. How do you consider Egypt of the future? We, in Egypt, of all political currents, are very aware of the dangerous nature of the current situation and its developments. If we do not proceed with a genuine outlook and consideration of the current situation. So far, we have succeeded in setting a definite time frame which has a clear end. We wish to start with a government that has a complete structure. The constitutional operation, in fact, is proceeding in parallel with the construction of our government. All the principles we are seeking for have existed in previous constitutions, including the constitution that was just annulled. Our main principle is to seek to uphold these constitutional principles and bring people to defend these values. They will not defend these values unless they enjoy rational, enlightened government, one that does not seek to, in fact, bring about political unrest, but will seek to respect the desires of the people.

We must determine what is the interest of Egypt, just as Morocco and Tunisia are determining their interest. But we also have to respect the overall principles and interests of the Arab cultures. The change is not only in North Africa. The change is in the entire Arab world. However the changes have taken place in North Africa and were successful. This is a revolution about mismanagement. What happened in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt as well as what happened in Morocco, it is an independent experience. It is the same as has happened in Syria and in Libya and which will happen elsewhere. We are now in a major phase of change. However, we must not fall into the trap of people stirring the masses and propaganda. We must draft plans. When we talk about the constitution, I don’t only mean constitution. I mean constitutional development, constitution and work. However, to simply content ourselves to talk about generalities is not enough. The people wish to have a decent standard of living.

However this can only be achieved through the fulfillment of their claims and demands. We must draft plans, cooperate and base our plans on reality and not on stirring public emotions, which has caused a great deal of damage. People and nations have rights. These must be respected. Their interests are clear. The government must be a rational one. Our enemy is in the final run, poverty and mismanagement and corruption. One last point, and an important one. Tackling social problems is an important point. We all know, Mr. Jebali, the current revolution was sparked by poverty and unemployment. Your major responsibility today is to tackle these problems, as well as your relations with Europe and the external world. These problems will affect and influence your relations with the outside world. The motto and slogan of the Tunisian revolution and other Arab revolutions is dignity, politically speaking, socially speaking and dignity in combating political hegemony, as well as dignity, socially speaking.

In Tunisia, we have taken great steps towards the establishment of a democratic regime. One that responds and meets a large part of the claims of the Tunisian people which has rejected dictatorship. As I said, and as my colleagues said, our major concern is the social challenges. How can we now respond to that second aspect of dignity, that is to say, social justice? In Tunisia, there is a major challenge here because these masses of unemployed young people have found their voice. They were silenced by the previous dictatorship. Now they demonstrate mass and even, in certain cases, do so beyond the law. This has come about due to long decades of corruption. Fortunes were stolen, were looted. Generations lost their future. So we must tackle this second part of dignity. While safeguarding democracy and freedoms and establishing the state of law and constitution, we must nevertheless respond to the second part. Because we are suffering from two problems, or facing two challenges. Urgent social demands as well as the insecurity and state of unrest which can improve, if we improve social living conditions.

The overall economic situation in the world is also an important factor. However, we do hope we shall be able to move on to a new phase where we’ll be able to tackle new problems. These problems are those of, first of all, employment. We must seek to overcome unemployment. We must also try to convince our partners that for the Tunisian democratic experience to succeed, Tunisia and other Arab countries need support in these endeavors. I believe here, in Davos, this is an opportunity for us and after hearing this appeal, these development efforts require support.

They require us to use our own resources, but these may not be sufficient. We will need further resources and we hope we shall be able to do so, without looting the resources of the other people. Are there any questions that you would like to raise to the panelists? Could you just raise your hand? Could we pass on the microphones? Let’s start with the gentleman, then, and (inaudible) then next. Let’s start with the gentleman. Salaam Aleikhem. I am an Italian journalist. Sorry, could you raise your voice a little bit? I would like to ask you what is the model? Just one year ago here, in Davos, the business community was praising the Egyptian reforms, economic reforms, market-oriented, and now I don’t see a lot of the business of the community of the Western part of the world here in this hall, just being here, just to apologize for our thinking last year.

What is the question? The question is, the Western model, the capitalist model, may have been discredited. Of course (inaudible) of course, are too old. Assuming that the political Islam is going to take the power in an increasing number of the Arab countries, what is going to be the economic model? Okay, it’s clear. The question is that there is fear in the business world, fear of the triumph of political Islamist parties. Will this affect the business environment in the Arab world? I’ll give you all the floor to answer this question.

I’ll start with Mr. Benkirane. I would like to turn to foreign businessmen. I would like to ask you, have you suffered from the winning of Islamic parties? But please allow me. In the past you have provided support to extremists, to oppressive leaders and you used to look at your own interests and our leaders also used to look at their own interests and that is how they missed the great opportunity and the investors also missed great opportunities. Now we have Islamic parties and these parties are comprised of the local population. They are open-minded, they are modern. What else do you want? Today we can guarantee your interests more than they did in the past.

I do not want to compare between current political parties or current regimes and the past ones but today, I assure you, we are capable of assuring and guaranteeing your investments more than they did in the past. So you, as foreign investors, as European investors, you should come to us. You should say, we are Europeans, we are Westerners and you are Arabs and Muslims and we each have our own interests. We should respect each other, respect each other’s specificities and then work together to ensure our mutual interests. We all need, we all seek foreign investments. We need that investment, but for that investment we need stability, so do not believe sometimes that there is stability when you see that the local population is being deprived of its rights, of its human rights.

But maybe the West now needs a message, needs a reassurance from these new political parties which now rule a number of Arab countries? So what can you say to reassure these investors in the field of traditional banking or fiduciaries or in other fields? I do not believe that the new regimes must be called political Islamic regimes. I do not believe so. But they did win the elections, it is true. But we need to be very specific when we choose our terminology. We are speaking about democratic regimes who won honest elections and transparent elections.

For the first time in the Arab world, we have elections. We have free and honest elections which led to democratic regimes. In Tunisia, and for the first time, and this is what I just said in my speech, we have a consensual government that comprises a number of diverse political parties. But I believe that the liberals also were part of your bloc? Yes, it is true. The liberals were part of our bloc and the Tunisians, whether they are Islamists, whether they are Jewish, who cares? They are Tunisians and that is what counts. They are Tunisians. What is important is to have a democratic regime, is to have a democratic system that won honest elections. Some say that the Western system is not suitable, is no longer appropriate. We are for free and open markets. We are for the freedom of capital and I do understand that there are regional specificities and I do understand that there are shortcomings in our countries and that is why the State has to play a role in order to amend, to correct, the situation. The State must not intervene in the economic life.

This is not what we want. We do not want intervention by the State. We want to leave the markets open and free but the State has a certain role to play, to amend the system, to supervise the economic system in order to ensure that it works to serve the interests of the citizens. We need certain reforms. We are not against the Western system per se, but we understand and we think that underprivileged populations need to be given their rights. What about Egypt? Mr. Amre Moussa, if we look at the Muslim Brotherhood and at the Salafists who won the elections, and if we gathered the votes that they got, you’d see that they got more than 50% of the votes in Egypt.

Do you think that this will change the face of Egypt, especially when it comes to investments and tourism? It is true. There will be a change. There will be a change in the approach that will be adopted and in the solutions that will be found to certain of our problems. I heard the question that was raised by our friend from Italy. He expresses the point of view of the West. The West is wondering will it be able to deal, to cope with these new Islamic political parties in the Arab world? We have listened to what Mr. Jebali said and we have adopted, we have endorsed democracy.

We have embraced democracy. The question that you should raise is will the West be able to deal with Arab democracy? I have looked at the agenda, I have looked at the agenda of the Salafists in Egypt and their agenda calls for certain modifications in the banking system in Egypt in order to adopt certain Islamic laws. It is true, but this is not the opinion of the majority. We have freedom of expression. Everybody has the right to say what he or she thinks. This is not exactly what the Salafists said. The Salafists are against this extremist vision of things. However it is true that the West wants democracy in Arab states. But they want a democracy that would lead to the winning of the parties that they want and to the regime that they want. This is what we saw in the past in Palestine.

If you want honest elections, fair elections, you have to accept the results of those elections. Let us not forget that political action in Egypt will be based on consensus. I am a presidential candidate and if I win the elections, I will ensure that there is consensus, consensus within Egypt and consensus within the Arab world and consensus within the region. Consensus does not mean hegemony. Consensus means cooperation. We are rebuilding our countries and this stage in our lives is very important. It is a very serious phase. In the past, investors used to be happy to come and invest in our countries even though there was a lot of corruption. But let me guarantee you, let me assure you, that corruption will recede and will diminish in the future. I would like to give the floor to Ms. Dergham and then I’ll give back the floor to the panelists. Raghida Dergham from Al Hayat newspaper. Do you have any guarantees, any constitutional guarantees, in order to separate the State from religion? You are quite vague when it comes to this matter.

The situation in the Arab world has now changed a lot, and women in the Arab world, what they are calling for are guarantees. They want a new constitution that would guarantee them their rights. You come and you say that you want to work with the West, you want assistance from the West and it is true. It is clear to us that you want a new relationship with the West, but what do you have to offer to the West? Can you ensure the West that you are going to move forward, even though you have a half-democracy, if I might say, because you don’t have a democracy that guarantees the right of all women? We cannot have an amputated democracy. If we want a real democracy, then we have to take into account the entire population. The democracy cannot ignore women. For the first time in the history of my country, we had the same number of women as men on electoral lists. We have a large number of women in our Parliament. 42% of them are from Al Nahda. This Al Nahda party, as you know, has an Islamic tendency.

We do not believe that we can build a society without half of its population. Half of that population is made up of women and women, as you know, they raise generations. So we cannot build a society without women. We have in the past said this and I shall repeat it here, again. It is true that there are certain things that take place in our country that must be denounced. It is true that the situation of Arab women is not one of the best in the world, however, I think that we are doing a lot in this field. I believe that many efforts are being made, especially in Tunisia. Women are allocated a lot of importance and we are working hard to ensure the place that women deserve in society. I do not know what other guarantees do you want? We have a constitution that is non-discriminatory, that gives the same equal rights to men and women, to people from various creeds. These are the rights that we must guarantee because they are guaranteed in Islam and must be guaranteed in the Tunisian constitution and this is what democracy is all about.

I started by speaking about the economy and now I turn to you, Mr. Abdel Moneim, and I ask you, what are the main economic priorities in Egypt? We know that 40% of the Egyptian population live under the poverty line and a large number of them live in extreme poverty. 15% of the population is unemployed. We used to live under a very corrupt regime which used to control around 80% of our resources, of our wealth. We are for an open-market economy, for a free economy. We want to establish a new tax system that would ensure legal or social justice. We want to ensure the rights of both the private and the public sectors and we are for both private and public ownership. We want to ensure a larger participation by the civil society in the development process. All these things are very important to us.

We need this process in which everybody participates. We, in Egypt, need to review Western liberalism, especially in the field of economy. Now that we have seen American young people go out within this Occupy Wall Street movement in order to demand for a review of the economic system and in order to ensure social justice, we, too, need to do the same. We, too, need to review the economic system in order to guarantee economic prosperity to all our citizens.

We welcome investments, private investments and public investments in Egypt and we have great investment opportunities in Egypt, especially in the field of tourism. We do recognize that we were suffering from many shortcomings in the past, under the previous regime, but let me assure you that we have all the necessary conditions in order to promote tourism. We have the very wonderful weather and we have the tourist sights and we would like to ensure up to 50 million tourists in Egypt every year. We listen to all the views that are given to us. We are living in a democratic society now and we listen to all the views. I believe that the mainstream in Egypt is a modern moderate one that is capable of listening to all these views and taking them into account.

It is true that women were oppressed in our Eastern societies. Women were also oppressed in Western societies, where women are used in ads, in commercials. She is used as a commodity and now we need to give back to women their dignity. We need to look at women as human beings equal to men. What we need is to enable women to come into Parliament, to participate in parliaments, in Egypt and in Tunisia and in all other Arab countries, given that in the past women faced many obstacles in the political sphere. My own electoral campaign is based on young men and women, and especially young women from Egypt, who helped me in this electoral campaign throughout Egypt. It is true that we are going to face a lot of changes in the future, and it is true that we are afraid of the way that those problems might be solved, but I assure you that we are a very moderate society.

I would like to give the floor to the last two speakers, very quickly, Mr. Benkirane first, and Mr. Amre Moussa later on. Let me assure you that people are trying to spread fear amongst us in a systematic manner. They’re trying to make us fear what is going to happen. They are trying exaggerate things. They are trying to focus on corruption. And it is true that we have witnessed a lot of corruption in our countries ever since our independence. It is true that corruption has led some people to become very wealthy. Some people are even wealthier than the wealthiest people in the West and this is what makes people very fearful. It is this corruption that makes us fear the future, but this is not acceptable. We must prove that we are capable of changing the situation. It is true that there are very extremist people in our countries, just like in any other country in the world. However, how can we deal with these people? The best way to deal with them is to bring them out of the closet, if I might say, is not to keep them marginalized.

Editor: Additional Content access is available using a French proxy for geo-blocked resources.

You need to try to attract them, to draw them towards you. You need to involve them in the life, the political life. You need to involve them in the parliament because they might start by being extremists, but then they will see that their extremism does not help them and then they will become more and more moderate, little by little. This is what happened to us. Please let me finish. This is how we were. When we were a young people, we used to be very extremist in our views, we used to have these great hopes and dreams. However, when we entered the political sphere we understood that we had to be more realistic, that we had to be more moderate. Every time that I meet with an official, I tell him that the only thing I ask you is to come to me whenever you have a problem, but if we have to eat together, if we have to dine or lunch together, the only thing I ask you is not to put alcohol on the table.

Is this considered as extremism? If you want to dine or to lunch alone, you can drink alcohol, but when you’re sitting at my table, you cannot. Is this considered as extremism? Mr. Amre Moussa. You said that in the Moroccan government there are faces that we saw before, but let us not forget that there is a national, patriotic stream in Morocco that has existed in the past, throughout history and that is why it has to continue, and that is why sometimes you feel as if you’re seeing the same faces.

Buying stuff online is great. Do you remember how much of a pain buying car or home insurance was before the advent of the internet. You used to have to sit down with a phone and actually speak to the sort of salespeople you actively avoid the rest of the year. Younger people won’t realize how awful it was, but believe me the boon of not speaking to insurance salesmen justifies the internet on it’s own, in my book at least.

However not everything online is a smooth and relaxing experience though. Buying something where there is competition is a completely different story and indeed can actually be more frustrating than queuing up in real life. Take for example a very popular concert, trying to get tickets can be extremely stressful.

You’d think that if you check out he time of release and sit yourself down at a computer with a credit card in hand would be everything you need? Well think again, as this is probably the start of a very tense hour or so. The problem is that everyone else is doing the same. Now if that happens in real life, especially in the UK, people would start a queue and you’d know where you stand. You can see the other people and have a good idea if you’re going to be successful or not. This is not the case in the digital world, there’s probably a queue, but you’ve no idea how long it is or whether you’re actually in it.

When concert tickets are released you may think you’re organised but so are thousands of other people doing exactly the same thing. Your success depends on many things, including how fast and capable the web server is that’s going to be fulfilling these requests. If it’s an under powered piece of junk then it’s going to fall over and generally be a total disaster.

But it get’s worse, you think you’re organised with your comfy chair and credit card at the ready, well you’re not and unfortunately you’re not even close. There are others, who takes this stuff very seriously and they’re also intent in buying a lot more tickets than you want too. You can call them entrepreneurs, opportunists or perhaps more commonly – ‘ticket scalpers’. People or organisations who simply buy up as many tickets as possible then sell them on to people like us at inflated prices.

They have several things you probably don’t have. Firstly they use automated software called Ticket Bots to ensure that they’re in the queue before you’ve even pressed a mouse button. Then they have a selection of servers, Ip addresses and forms of payment in order to make lots and lots of purchases. All of this is likely to happen while you’re still staring at the selection screen and wondering if your browser has frozen.

The key to heir success i using multiple identities and at the heart of this is using proxies which rotate through IP addresses. This enables the software to act at lightening speed, with the IP address being switched with every new application that is submitted. Each one purchasing the maximum allocation for a single customer, there are literally thousands of tickets being purchased in the seconds after release.

Of course the ticket companies are not very impressed with this especially as most of these tickets turn up at several times the cover price on the web a short time after. They do take preventative action but for every one they do it is normally countered by the ticket scalpers who of course have large profits to protect. At best they make it more difficult and of course the more expensive they can make the process, the less lucrative it comes and the more tickets are left for real fans.

Unfortunately they don’t look like winning unless there’s some serious supporting legislation. People have figured out that they can buy specialized address pools from companies who create and sell the best proxies for Ticketmaster applications. All that’s needed is to rent a few of these for a few weeks and they can clear up with some serious purchases.

So what’s the solution? Well hopefully legislation will put some stop to this behavior but that could take years depending on where you live. Many fans have simply embraced the concert and become ticket scalpers themselves.

One of the first words you should say in a speech and what are the last words you should say in a speech ?

Now tomorrow, I don’t know how many of you are speaking but I guarantee if you go to conferences 19 out of 20 speakers will start in one of these ways:

Number one my name is Connor Neal I’m from tango and this talk is about the latest trend in monitoring strategies. Now all of you are sitting with a piece of paper in front of you that says I’m Connor Neal. I’ve come from Ireland and I’m going to talk about tango 0-4 and this so by repeating what you already know I’m giving a signal that it’s a time to get your BlackBerry out I’ve just signals that this talk is opportunity to reconnect with blackberry. Or perhaps make sure the office is ok maybe get some plans together for the weekend. Another way to start the lights and some of the mics working and how much time have I got. Ok right Ok is it is it plugged in and you laugh, but I guarantee tomorrow there’s going to be some moments they get a little bit upset and why because this is for some of you the first time you see this individual.

They’re here as a leader in their industry and your kid at school presenting on giraffes does a better job. That’s sad I think there’s only three ways of starting a speech and it’s the same if you went into a bar and there’s a group of people. Just like a networking event much like you were at before you walked into this room and maybe I came up to a group there’s group of three people who are having a little conversation. I walk in and I say hi I’m Connor I’m Irish 38 years old I have an interest in sailing I like running and they’ve walked away.

How do you get people to engage with you when you’re networking?

I say in networking the best thing you can do is walk up. I think we know someone in common try and walk away when someone comes up and says that to you hopefully you’ve done your research. So you do know that you’ve know someone in common but with LinkedIn you can find out who knows who on anyone you want so how to start a speech first way with a question that matters to the audience.

How do you phrase a problem that the audience faces in a question so that’d be the third best way of starting a speech. The second best way of starting a speech with a factoid that shocks. There’s more people alive today than have ever died more. There’s a lot of speeches that can follow on from there every two minutes the energy reaching the earth from the Sun is equivalent to the whole annual usage of humanity. That’s all the energy all the cars everything moving all the lighting all the air conditioning of the world in one year is equivalent to two minutes of Sun.

Does that change how you think about energy so what’s a fact that shocks the audience into rethinking and Google has transformed your ability to get at these facts given two or three minutes you can find out one whether anything I’ve said is true. But you trust me because I look the part and I’m from ESA. Those are in fact two true facts I usually get someone come up to me and are you sure but how do they measure dead and alive.

But it’s true and it’s not even close but the best way to start a speech and the way that I hope all of you use from now forward is the same way we start a story to a child. Now how do we start a story to a child and I say “once once upon a time” and what happens when you say once upon a time I can tell you what happens.

When I say once upon a time my daughter leans forward gets ready to hear engages and we were all trained as kids to know when a story’s coming we also know when a teacher is about to deliver a 40 minute during lecture that has no impact on our lives. However in business you don’t hear him Jack Welsh saying once upon a time Steve Jobs doesn’t start his speeches once upon a time so there’s a grown-up way of saying once upon a time. If you listen to the conversations that are interesting around you at a dinner table in a networking event. If you listen to the people that are gathering the group of eight that are listening to them the way they’re talking is different the way they start is different the way you tell stories as an adult.

It was in October was the last time I was in this room there were a hundred and twenty people in the room and I was having a little conversation with one of the world experts on public speaking and he said something to me. He said something to me this had me thinking ever since he said something to me that changed what I think about what’s important in speaking.

Now I can pause for about 30 seconds two or three minutes and you want to know what he said so in speaking in sales. We assume self-interest so if you can tell a story from your own life that connects you to why this topic is important to you. Why you first joined the company when you first saw someone benefit and you saw how their life was changed and I think here exploring what quality of life means for you in your business.

How do you affect quality of life for a customer because that’s where the stories that will start to connect you to the audience will come from because stories are about people they’re not about objects are not about things it’s about the people behind the things. If you want to tell a good story about tango don’t talk about the software talk about the people who built the software. What they do now and they are what’s important to them what they sacrifice and in your own life. What does quality of life mean what sacrifices have you made to achieve something that was more important. If you can tell stories and the audience connect with those stories then they want to hear what you have to say and all the reasons and all the benefits they’re all written in the document and in the PowerPoint but they need to trust you and they need to care about you as a person to engage with you and then decide that they will act.

Until recent years, you’d probably never heard of proxy servers unless you worked in an IT department. The specialised servers which started life in the CERN laboratories at the end of the 1980’s are now well and truly prevalent in the internet of today. Now you’ll find them all over the web, and surprisingly they are used for a myriad of different purposes almost all different than their initial conception.

Lots of us most probably have made use of a proxy server in all sorts of settings. In the case that you use the world wide web at the workplace or college and university, there’s a good chance that you gain access to it with the help of a proxy server. They are frequently deployed to control access inwards and outwards to a company network from the internet. The concept is that rather than examining a wide range of individual connections, the proxy can funnel web traffic through a solitary point that makes it much simpler to monitor and check for factors like viruses.

To impose using the proxy server, the majority of network administrators will definitely enforce their usage by a range of methods. To start with from the client computer the use of the proxy will definitely be made obligatory by hard coding the configurations into the browser. So as an example, Internet Explorer would certainly be deployed and the settings pre-configured by using some thing like the Internet Explorer Application kit. The settings can also be installed by using group policy settings deployed to the client from the Active directory.

Furthermore, the system administrator will additionally release settings on the exterior firewall to regulate access throughout the network perimeter. This would most likely be accomplished by specifying the IP address of the proxy and making sure all other addresses are prevented from leaving the network. If there are numerous proxies or they are set up in an array then multiple addresses would be configured. This would prevent anybody at all from overriding client side settings or installing an additional browser and attempting to gain access to the internet directly. If the address isn’t defined then the access would be blocked.

Proxies online are usually used in a marginally different situation although the functionality is relatively the same. They are primarily used to provide a level of personal privacy and conceal your internet address from web servers. The idea is that rather than seeing the IP address of your client, then the web server (and your ISP) will only view the IP address of the proxy. This would certainly also allow you to circumvent some of the numerous geo-blocks which exist on the web. There are free ones but they’re pretty much useless, however you can find a rotating proxies trial if you search carefully.

Essentially if you route your connection through a proxy located in the right region then you can circumvent the block. Countless people use these to view things like the BBC from anyplace or ITV abroad, though it can be challenging to find a UK proxy fast enough to stream video at least without paying for one. This has become even more complicated over the last handful of years though, as the internet sites have begun to detect the use of proxies and are blocking them automatically. Nowadays you normally require a VPN if you want to watch video from one of the major media sites, due to the fact that proxies won’t function any longer.

There are other common uses of proxies on the net and that’s generally to earn money. Numerous individuals and companies, use proxies so as to create additional digital identities. Doing this means instead of being constrained to one connection, then you can successfully make use of hundreds at the same time. This is particularly useful for conducting online research, posting adverts, internet marketing and even utilizing e-commerce sites to buy stock to resell.

For example a common use is to use automatic software to buy things like shoes or tickets to well-known concerts, usually you’ll only be allowed to try and buy once but using proxies you can acquire many. This is why people employ computer software to speed up these methods and purchase the best rotating proxies in order to facilitate these purchases. There are many individuals making thousands from simple software programs, a few revolving proxy networks and an average personal computer purchasing and selling limited availability items such as these.

For most of use football fans, success and glamour is not something we experience very often. Sure, if you support a club like Real Madrid, Barcelona or Manchester City it’s probably a different experience. However for those of us who are stuck supporting a team in the fourth tier of English football then it’s an entirely different experience. My local team is a well supported, totally under performing club who bring plenty of depression and precious little excitement into my life. Indeed as the season comes to an end, our fan’s forum’s most popular topic was the terrible meat pies that were being sold in the ground. I suspect this isn’t the main topic of discussion on the Real Madrid football forums!

Yet this Summer something happens which unites most football fans, the premiere tournament which we can all enjoy. Even if our nation hasn’t qualified, most of us can find a link somewhere to a team we can support. Yes, ladies and gentlemen – four years have passed and now it’s time for the World Cup again.

For soccer fanatics everywhere, there really was a bit of nervousness when Russia was revealed as the host of this years world cup. However until now the worries appear to have actually been unfounded at the very least with regards the framework needed to host this kind of an event. Undoubtedly the main worries are around possible violence and exactly what sort of welcome football fans will receive however it’s likely that all of these will not be concerns either as President Putin is eager to utilize the event to promote Russia.

He will not be the first leader to reckon on a huge economic boost on the back of the competition. However in passed years this has actually not been as large as hoped for, certainly the South African economic condition didn’t benefit quite as much as many had wished. Yet it certainly will provide an amazing atmosphere to the football fans who are little bit more adventurous than those of us who simply settle down to watch Match of the Day online on a Saturday night! Incidentally if you’re outside the UK, there is a way of watching the Match of the Day stream using a VPN just check this link.

What can the economy expect? Well it will almost certainly deliver a short term boost to the economy in many sectors. The Russian Central Bank is hoping that the boost could be somewhat targeted as it has placed stadiums in regions of the country which require this sort of investment. The rise in spending was undoubtedly required anyway, so the opportunity to recoup some investment is certainly welcomed by Putin. He is obviously hoping to showcase the nation as a worldwide superpower once more, and it’s most likely that spending will be rather lavish in several public facing areas in addition to in security.

There certainly should be an expansion in jobs and a comparable increase in the requirement for consumer product and services. This should continue the positive growth that the Russian economy has experienced in the previous year after a sharp fall in the previous two years largely pertaining to the oil price.

The competition is spread out over 11 cities and it is strongly believed will create an additional.2% of gross domestic product in both the 2nd and third quarters. This doesn’t sound huge but it is in fact a huge increase in response to a single event such as this. President Putin’s hold on power though is heavily reliant on improving the living standards of the average Russian. There is a danger here though in that inflation is likely to increase particularly in those cities as thousands of visitors arrive in a short time.

These price rises will probably occur in things like hotels additionally ordinary goods and services in line with the enhanced demand. The Russian authorities are however most likely to clamp down on any type of excessive profiteering and abusing visitors. Many tourists have been in fact attempting to bypass these cost rises by booking using a Russian IP address like this in order to access domestic prices wherever possible.

There are certain things you learn if you start getting involved in the politics of environmental issues. One of the most important ones is that public opinion is vital. We might all admire those eco-friendly initiatives that the large multinational companies start and indeed they’re all welcome. The reality is that they only exist to support their business, it’s because these things matter to their customers. Without the weight of public opinion by these causes, companies and governments tend to veer towards inaction. However you just have to see the outcry about plastics caused by the Blue Planet programme on the BBC to see how powerful opinion can be. Incidentally you can see these sort of documentaries on the BBC from anywhere if you hide your location – check out this article about using a UK TV VPN.

Anyone can easily help stimulate investment in new wind, solar, wave and tidal electricity by choosing to pay for greener electricity through your electricity provider. The very best policy, as utilized in Germany and numerous other nations, is actually one that ensures much higher payments on the electricity market when it comes to people and organizations who create renewable energy. By ensuring a good price was actually paid for green electrical energy, the authorities helped to ensure wind turbines and solar panels an attractive investment, massively increasing storage capacity in an only a few years.

Within the UK, the government adopted a different policy called the Renewables Obligation. This meant that electricity companies had to purchase a certain proportion of their electrical energy from eco-friendly generators, Because of this, the companies could develop ‘green’ tariffs simply by reallocating the renewable energy they had to purchase anyway to these particular customers, creating no extra capacity whatsoever. Good greener tariffs Really don’t despair: anyone can still make a difference by opting for a green tariff if you make sure your electricity provider actually transforms some of your money into new wind mills, wave farms and solar panels.

Ethical Consumer magazine gives each a simple rating to help you make up your mind. In 2007, the National Consumer Council likewise produced a report called ‘Reality or Rhetoric’, which ranked the various tariffs available to customers (www.ncc.org.uk). Both large and small level environment-friendly energy projects will be required to provide our electricity needs in the future. By generating renewable energy at home, you can easily reduce your monthly bills, help sustain a new industry and cut your carbon emissions.

Various modern technologies are actually suitable for different houses, and the most effective option for you will depend upon where you live, in addition to the design of your house, so do get expert advice before purchasing any kit. Renewable energy systems that have actually been used effectively in homes include solar panels, rooftop wind turbines, wood pellet boilers and ground’ and air source heat pumps. Grants to help install renewable energy at home are also available from the government, although they are usually in short supply. In the UK, the Energy Saving Trust and the Low Carbon Buildings Programme can help ﬁnd expert advice and any available grants.

It was one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history when the fantastically wealthy Qatar managed to persuade the money grabbing, corrupt FIFA administration that it would be a great place to hold the 2022 World Cup. The small matter of nobody ever watching football in Qatar or it being far too hot to actually play the game properly where of course minor concerns. The practicalities of not being able to play and the local population having little interest where countered by some judicious vote buying.

Anyone and everyone, outside perhaps the upper echelons of FIFA saw the result in it’s true light. A very sad insight into how far the authorities who control the ‘peoples game’ had fallen. It was confirmation for many of us of the rumours of bribery, corruption and fraud which existed in the corridors of FIFA. Most of it was confirmed in full in a report released after pressure from the German Newspaper Bild, who threatened to publish excerpts.

The corruption was on a huge scale, stories like a secret payment of over 2 million dollars made to the ten year old daughter of Brazilian FIFA member Ricardo Teixeira. Other details reported about three senior FIFA figures being shuttled around to meetings in luxury Qatari jet. There’s little doubt that Qatar bought the world’s biggest sporting tournament, yet should it be allowed to keep it in a post-corrupt FIFA world?

Things haven’t really got any better, as far as Qatar hosting the tournament has gone. there’s lots of political instability in the region and many reports of human rights issues in the stadium building. Many people have been killed on the constructions sites and there’s lots of rumours about modern day slavery there. Human rights groups have been repeatedly calling for the tournament to be removed from the country in response to these violations.

The World Cup has a magic which few other sporting tournaments can match. They have the ability to bring huge economic and social benefits to an area, plus the obvious sporting incentives of hosting the tournament. There are football fans across the globe who dream of swapping the evening of watching Match of the Day live from the computer to travelling to somewhere to cheer on their national team. There can be no magic hosting it in Qatar, it’s a stupid place to play football in the Summer and it’s likely only there from bribes and corruption.

Fortunately it seems that the groundswell of opinion of switching the tournament is beginning to take effect. Many reports are now being produced suggesting that it could be moved to somewhere with the existing infrastructure to hold it relatively easily. Places like North america and the United Kingdom have enough stadiums to host the tournament at short notice. Indeed there are many European nations who could either host or share the hosting quite easily.

The latest suggestions have come from a Saudi sports chief who presumably has some connections. It would go a long way to making the public believe that FIFA has really turned over a new leaf.

It’s an important time in New Zealand politics and many are hoping for something of a new era. The leader of the opposition and previous prime minister Bill English has resigned. He has long been criticised for not having the leadership skills and charisma to take on such an important role and there is some feeling he has been forced out of the position.

There is no real favorite to replace him but here we have identified three of the front runners. To be clear you can get some more information on the New Zealand media sites plus there’s lots of information on the BBC international pages, however to access the BBC iPlayer from New Zealand you’ll need to use a VPN service.

The 3 Former lawyers and Cabinet ministers established their bids yesterday, only one day after Bill English announced the upcoming resignation. Three others are weighing up their options, but of these Mark Mitchell is the more than likely to enter the race. He’s only intrigued in the position of leader, not a deputy, for this competition will be as much about raising his public profile compared to taking the top job probability of taking the top job. To take on difficult and complex portfolios, responsibilities she carried out well under both John Key and Bill English. There’s to take on difficult and complex portfolios, responsibilities she carried out well under both John Key and Bill English capability A lower public profile than the other two might work in her.

A lower public profile than the other two might work in her favor, with the concentrate on the new generation leader in this race. She is socially liberal, but economically describes herself as being in core, heartland National territory. She is not afraid of Judith Collins, which she described as a strong MP and government minister. But Adams adds that the party needs someone to lead the next government, not the next opposition. But he was reluctant to talk in any detail about policy, including any specific issue facing will be the first Mori But he was reluctant to talk in any detail about policy, including any specific issue facing.

This occurred when offered the chance by Morning Report’s Guyon Espiner Mori, an interview still available online as well as on the BBC UK TV site. His use of the 3rd person during his media conference – I am focused on Simon Bridges – made him the object of some ribbing, but he’s popular inside the caucus and has a robust sense of humor. Mr Bridges will give voice to the backbench, the Mr Bridges will give voice to the backbench, the portion of the caucus which has the power of the numbers this term. Amy Adams and her MP: If. Amy Adams and her MP: If somebody going to take a lot more than four to win that is fine, but it is going to take a lot more than four to win.”.

She’s also not scared happy to review her party’s handling of election strategy, with National having won conflicts all over the who’d happy to review her party’s handling of election strategy, with National having won conflicts all over the brand new baby. She’s happy to critique her party’s handling of election strategy, with National having won battles all over the nation appeal to the new, hungry members of the caucus. Ms Collins said National erred when Bill English encouraged voters to cut out the middle man”, in an attempt to marginalise New Zealand First. She’s appeal to the new, hungry members of the caucus, and individuals up throughout the ranks. Her tough talk might appeal to the new, hungry members of the caucus, and there’s no love lost between Ms Collins and some of the more senior MPs.

It’s sometimes difficult to see political solutions to anything in Northern Ireland particularly at the moment. Many are now talking about the return to direct rule simply because currently there’s no one actually running the province. Of course, this is more of a problem for Sinn Fein than it is for the DUP who in some senses welcome direct rule. The two main parties are so opposed to each other it sometimes seems impossible for there to be any sort of coalition government running Northern Ireland.

Green Party leader Steven Agnew expressed his deep frustration. Again, despite attempts at optics to the opposite, we see the out workings of a talks process which was limited to two parties that have proved time and time again that they can’t deliver, he said. With healthcare, education and everything in Northern Ireland descending into utter chaos, both of these parties have yet again demonstrated weak leadership and inability and unwillingness to take that crucial step forward into the unknown to deliver a peaceful settlement and a functioning Executive. We’ve warned that it’s craziness to carry on doing the same thing again and again and also to expect a different result.

I’m deeply disappointed to have been proven right by the most recent turn of events. I hope that at this point the State Secretary will learn from what’s happened and will now turn into more imaginative solutions which might help to bridge the seemingly impossible chasm between the DUP and Sinn Fein. We trust that the State Secretary will now widen her gaze beyond both of these failed negotiators and will meet to discuss our proposals for a Citizen’s Assembly that could play a vital role in leading Northern Ireland out from the current political impasse. Time to move on’.

These events have been covered extensively in the Irish media and to some extent in the British media. there’s loads of news and information on the Northern Ireland situation on the BBC websites, which you can access ok from the North and the iPlayer is also accessible from the rest of Ireland using this VPN service.

TUV leader Jim Allister said it was time to move on and implement a direct rule. He said: I welcome the fact the DUP has faced some measure of reality. With Sinn Fein never in Stormont to make Northern Ireland work this was a late conclusion to the current unnecessary talks. Nevertheless, they must go further and accept that things can only move forward by fully accepting the demonstrated reality that obligatory coalition may and will never work. This system of devolution is doomed to constant deadlock and failure. Only a coalition of willing has any chance of success. If such isn’t achievable then we need government from the only other place it could come from, Westminster.

British TV is perhaps not the most useful source of information simply because the Northern Ireland situation is often so complex and nuanced however for up to date facts it’s difficult to beat. For those of us interested in Irish politics perhaps the best option from outside Ireland is to invest in an Irish VPN and get access to RTE the Irish broadcaster. However there’s lots of up to date information on UK Television – http://uktvabroad.org/ and there are also the regional programmes broadcast from the BBC.

We need a civil rights movement’. People Before Profit’s MLA Gerry Carroll said there needed to be a brand new civil rights movement. Arlene Foster and the DUP have made plain their unwillingness to enact basic rights for individuals. The talks process failed since the DUP continues to hold the rights of people to ransom. Shame on them.”. The DUP can block the talks, but they can’t stop the growing desire for change among the majority of individuals here.”. 50 years ago a mass movement of individuals power has been put on the street to demand fundamental rights in this state. Now’s the time to rediscover that spirit, and build a brand new civil rights movement. One that may reach across the divide and fight for fundamental rights for the LGBT community, for females and for Irish speakers.

This website actually gets lots of hits from bemused digital investors seeking advice. Much of it stems from a single post I made a few weeks ago relating to Bitcoin – well here it is. Not exactly useful, or indeed incisive, but Google and other search engines have sent thousands of bewildered investors to my post.

Well firstly I should apologize because that post had very little useful information about Bitcoin simply because I know little about it. However I could actually class myself as a successful investor but more by luck than design. Here’s a little rundown of my experience which might perhaps help some people.

I’ve looked at Bitcoin for years without doing much about it (unfortunately) – but I have stumbled into digital currency. About a year ago I was paid for services rendered (oooh err) in a single bitcoin. It was actually for promoting a residential VPN service so only slightly shady.

I moaned and complained at the time, and wanted the $500 in cash but didn’t get anywhere. About a year later, I looked at my neglected bitcoin payment and realised it was now worth close to $12000 so preceded to turn it into real money. Imagine picking a share or investment that turned 500 bucks into 12000 in a year with little effort and you can begin to understand the excitement of Bitcoin.

Well firstly I figured out how to cash out, it wasn’t hard. I had my Bitcoin Core wallet – which was free and I installed to accept my payment in the first place. Next step was to find someone who would cash out my coins for me, again I was directed to a company. Their name was Kraken and although they have frequent server problems simply because they appear to be overloaded – it’s a bitcoin exchange and you can find it here https://www.kraken.com/. They seem honest, professional and don’t charge extortionate fees so are worth checking out. Well they worked for me and that’s all I can say.

So I transferred my coin, went through the security checks which took a couple of days and I was ready to go. I placed some sell orders selecting the best price option (the default one) and cashed out my Bitcoin at a huge profit. Then I initiated a balance transfer to my bank account, which I worried about a lot but that actually was fine. It took about 48 hours at which point the money appeared in my bank account – that’s me a digital currency trader and a successful one too!

I should also add, although I wanted my Bitcoin cash in my bank account I was a bit worried about missing out on the potential cash fest so made another move. With no research I checked out the next rival to Bitcoin which turned out to be Ethereum available at a much more reasonable $400 so I bought one – just to stay in the game.

Just checked and that one coin is now worth nearly $1200 a month later, I can’t imagine how much money the big players are making !!! Mind you will probably all turn into Tulip dust any day soon at least that’s what I’m told. Yet I have started watching the news, reading crap digital currency sites and wasting my money on expat TV for news on how the markets going.